Cold beer on a hot day, still got the happy hour deal. Great pic of Kelly. only a so-so picture of me, but what the heck....
The view looking out from our table on Amsterdam and 81st, in the Upper West Side, not far from our digs.
Kelly had heard about Zabar's "deli", so we swung by. Wow, what a store! The selection of foods, all so fresh and easy to grab for a single healthy tasty meal was amazing! And very COLD air conditioning too. We split a knish as we left, my first, yum... I think it was potato/spinach. If you want to read the story, click the pics above and below for the enlarged versions.
OK, this was cool. From my seat on my Cathay Pacific flight, I could turn watch the camera mounted underneath, just below the landing gear. COOL.
I am in New York City, one of my favourite places on the planet. Arrived yesterday morning on a red-eye from Vancuver. Fortunately my friend Kelly had arrived the night before so we had our hotel already. I'd been falling asleep on the A-train from JFK so it was so nice to know there was a bed that was all mine when I reached my destination.
So I know sleeping on the New York subway isn't the best strategy, but I hadn't slept on the flight (unusual for me) so it finally hit me, despite 2 of those mini Red Bulls that you can get through airport security. I was done done done.... But no worries, not my first trip here, I knew my route, had no luggage (just a little carryon backpack) so I looked like any other weary commuter from Brooklyn making my way to work. Well, almost. But I fancied that I fit in.
The no-luggage to NYC thing is something I figured out a few trips ago, and I love it -- despite having a 2 free bag allowance with Cathay Pacific this trip. Travelling this light lets me arrive at JFK and take the Airtrain, then subway, right into Manhattan without the hassle of a big, or even modest-sized bag. I've even come into Times Square or midtown at 1 or 2 am this way and felt perfectly safe. Or 98%. Just alert and it's no issue.
The beauty of NYC -- ok, it's just one thing -- is that there are cheap luggage places everywhere, especially midtown. What I do when I'm ready to go home, or switch hotels, I pick up a $15 big bag to load my shopping into. I then give it to charity when I get home.
This trip I'm spending 9 days here with my friend, then I switch hotels and stay another 9. Oooh la la, this makes me happy!
It's a bit of a miracle, I think, that I made it here in one piece, as last week I was on an Alaska Cruise with my mom and sister, and only had an overnight turnaround. That, in itself, seems easy to me as a now-somewhat-savvy-world-traveller, but the whole process of getting us home to Sidney (near Victoria, BC, Canada) was a little more complicated than when I travel solo (mom and her walker, sis and her cane, and all our luggage -- but relatlively breezy thanks to the wheels donated to our cause [heh] by family... not sure how we would have done it otherwise! Thx Hardy crew!). I'll write more on the cruise soon.....
... but I'm in New York baby!
I'm actually sitting on hold with HP support, arranging a new battery for my brand new HP Mini netbook, as it conked out. boo hoo. Thank goodness for diagonostics, warranties, and being in a central location for a number of days.
I was about to write that I would stop blogging as soon as my help call was complete, and that just happened. I'll have my new bat by Friday, no charge. Sweet. This is why I bought HP.
Now I am going to order breakfast to my door -- one of those other cool things about NYC that I love so much: the local delis that will bring you bacon and eggs, or a burger, or ice cream, or whatever, right to your door with a quick call. It arrives usually hot, tasty, relatively cheap, pretty fast and, in my experience, with a smile. Yesterday it was $19 for very big breakfasts for 2 people, plus a tip for the delivery guy. It's actually after noon now, so I might need to settle for a lunch-ish thing, but no worries.
More to come....
PS - just got off the phone, my breakfast after noon request was met with "of course, for you, we can do that"... a sweet bacon, egg and cheese sandwich roll with oj and coffee shall be at my door shortly ;-)
PPS - ok, that was ridiculously fast, and only $6.95
So I know sleeping on the New York subway isn't the best strategy, but I hadn't slept on the flight (unusual for me) so it finally hit me, despite 2 of those mini Red Bulls that you can get through airport security. I was done done done.... But no worries, not my first trip here, I knew my route, had no luggage (just a little carryon backpack) so I looked like any other weary commuter from Brooklyn making my way to work. Well, almost. But I fancied that I fit in.
The no-luggage to NYC thing is something I figured out a few trips ago, and I love it -- despite having a 2 free bag allowance with Cathay Pacific this trip. Travelling this light lets me arrive at JFK and take the Airtrain, then subway, right into Manhattan without the hassle of a big, or even modest-sized bag. I've even come into Times Square or midtown at 1 or 2 am this way and felt perfectly safe. Or 98%. Just alert and it's no issue.
The beauty of NYC -- ok, it's just one thing -- is that there are cheap luggage places everywhere, especially midtown. What I do when I'm ready to go home, or switch hotels, I pick up a $15 big bag to load my shopping into. I then give it to charity when I get home.
This trip I'm spending 9 days here with my friend, then I switch hotels and stay another 9. Oooh la la, this makes me happy!
It's a bit of a miracle, I think, that I made it here in one piece, as last week I was on an Alaska Cruise with my mom and sister, and only had an overnight turnaround. That, in itself, seems easy to me as a now-somewhat-savvy-world-traveller, but the whole process of getting us home to Sidney (near Victoria, BC, Canada) was a little more complicated than when I travel solo (mom and her walker, sis and her cane, and all our luggage -- but relatlively breezy thanks to the wheels donated to our cause [heh] by family... not sure how we would have done it otherwise! Thx Hardy crew!). I'll write more on the cruise soon.....
... but I'm in New York baby!
I'm actually sitting on hold with HP support, arranging a new battery for my brand new HP Mini netbook, as it conked out. boo hoo. Thank goodness for diagonostics, warranties, and being in a central location for a number of days.
I was about to write that I would stop blogging as soon as my help call was complete, and that just happened. I'll have my new bat by Friday, no charge. Sweet. This is why I bought HP.
Now I am going to order breakfast to my door -- one of those other cool things about NYC that I love so much: the local delis that will bring you bacon and eggs, or a burger, or ice cream, or whatever, right to your door with a quick call. It arrives usually hot, tasty, relatively cheap, pretty fast and, in my experience, with a smile. Yesterday it was $19 for very big breakfasts for 2 people, plus a tip for the delivery guy. It's actually after noon now, so I might need to settle for a lunch-ish thing, but no worries.
More to come....
PS - just got off the phone, my breakfast after noon request was met with "of course, for you, we can do that"... a sweet bacon, egg and cheese sandwich roll with oj and coffee shall be at my door shortly ;-)
PPS - ok, that was ridiculously fast, and only $6.95
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